Alvar's Other Side
by Stars and Alicorns
Summary: We all know Alvar Vacker. That guy. Fitz' older brother.But what do we really know of his real side? Nothing, really. Nothing about who he is, what he believes in, or which side he's really on. This is Alvar's other side. *MAJOR NEVERSEEN SPOILERS* *Minor Lodestar spoilers*
1. Chapter 1

Bottles. So many bottles. And the notes. So many notes. Why wouldn't they stop? All the tokens from an unknown group were sitting in front of Alvar Vacker.

" _We've_ _seen_ _how_ _you_ _suffer_ ," said one note.

" _Join_ _us_ _to_ _make_ _a_ _better world_." This was a projection from a bottle.

" _If you join us, it will all be over_." What will be over?

The notes?

The humiliation?

The world?

Alvar picked up the one that haunted him the most:

" _We can fix you._ "

Four simple words made a whole lot of impact on Alvar's breathing. They-whoever they were-could fix his life. His life.

It was upside down, flipped inside out; askew. They could fix the way his family treated him. No longer would he be overlooked by people, craning to see his little brother.

His brother. The star of the family. The 'Golden Boy'. Golden indeed….

Alvar fingered a bottle that was filled with a silver light. Silver had always been his favourite colour. It was not so plain to be gray, yet it was not flashy, loud and bright, like gold. It was more priceless than gold, to him.

When he picked up the bottle, the light passing through the crystal walls illuminated the inside of the bottle. A projection appeared on his desk, where he was keeping all of the notes. It read: " _No longer linger on the wrong side_."

The last of the bottles in the row was gold. Alvar thought this strangely appropriate for the note. When the gold bottle was lit up, the projection said something like: " _You are different_."

Yes. He was. He always had been. As an eight year old boy, he though about right and wrong a lot.

Is it right to be in power? _Yes_.

Is it right to be cruel? _When_ _cruelness is needed, yes_.

Is it right to control people? _People who need to be controlled_ ….

Is it right to lie? _No_.

Yet that was exactly what the Council was doing: They were lying to themselves, and they were lying to the whole elven race. Alvar couldn't understand it.

With his father as an Emissary, Alvar knew a lot about what the Council stood for, or tried to do.

It was all wrong. They said they would uphold the world, but so many things were wrong.

The different levels of class.

The discrimination of different races.

The imprisonment of innocent creatures at the Sanctuary.

The Nobility.

In his frustration, Alvar swept his hand over his desk knocking down the notes and bottles. Notes and bottles.

If joining this unknown group could make him a better life, it would be all worth it.

Every.

Single.

Bit.

* * *

 **This is only an idea. So please please please tell me in the review section if you think it is a good one, or not, or if you want to hear more of it. It's just basically from how he joined the Neverseen, to how Jolie died, and other parts too. And a big thank you to Strikestar for giving me this idea!**


	2. Chapter 2

Seven years later, Alvar was steadily involved with the Neverseen, as it turned out they were named. The notes and bottles stopped coming—the Neverseen was sure of his dedication. All of the notes had been burned, and the bottles had been smashed.

Except for the last golden bottle. The one that had read: You are different.

Alvar kept that one as a reminder to never go back to the way he was before.

And it was even worse now. Fitz was viewed as 'The Supreme Golden Boy' , because apparently, he would manifest as an even greater telepath than his father. And their father was a great telepath.

Alvar found this out when Fitz had taken over his decrying session. Meanwhile, the decrying session hadn't been anything special for Alvar. He was pretty much destined to be a Vanisher. And one look in the Pool of Destiny told him so too. He would end up being a Vanisher, like his mother. In fact, They were alike in many ways. He had his mother's cobalt eyes, instead of Alden's teal ones. He also had his mother's quieter personality, and was overshadowed by something greater.

But he was different too. He was pretty sure he was the only one helping the enemy' in his family.

Why were they the 'bad guys' anyways? They were just trying to make the world a better place. And Alvar was going to help them.

Speaking of everyone getting special talents, one had been taken away.

The Council had banned pyrokinesis.

Just two weeks ago, five elves had died trying to spark something called 'everblaze'. It did sound dangerous, but that wasn't enough reason to take someone's talent away. Talent was the only thing that their world had. And if it were taken away, what would the world come to?

Nothing good.

And so, accordingly, Pyrokinetics were not allowed to have any special jobs. Which meant electing a new Councillor.

Fintan was a pyrokinetic. He was also a Councillor.

Replacing him would be an Empath. Getting rid of an amazing talent like pyrokinesis, only to replace it with Empathy? It was wrong. So wrong.

Alvar threw down the newspaper he had holding. He wished he were a pyrokinetic, and could burn it on the spot.

"What's wrong, Alvar?" His father asked, sitting at the breakfast table. Not that he cared much in Alvar's opinion.

"Oh nothing… It's just this article in the newspaper."

" What's it about?" Asked Alden, finally looking up.

"Pyrokinesis." His father's brows shot up, and his face tensed. "They've banned it. And they're removing someone from the Council," Alvar explained, even though Alden likely knew everything that Alvar just said, with being an emissary and all. He'd probably helped pass that law.

"I didn't know they would write about it," Alden murmured as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Is that wrong?"

"No… It just complicates things." His tone was icier than before. "Anyways," he said in a louder tone, indicating that the conversation on pyrokinesis was over, "I have one last place to look for the human girl before Fitz can take over." Even she wasn't likely to be human, they still called her that.

Alvar had mixed feelings about giving the job to Fitz. He liked going to the Forbidden Cities often, it made his dad somewhat proud of him, and he got to skip school. But Alvar's Foxfire sessions were getting harder, and it was getting harder to pass tests, not learning the stuff in the first place.

If Fitz did indeed find her, then that would be another accomplished thing added to his 'Golden Legacy'.

"Where am I going today?" Alvar asked rather bitterly.

Alden didn't seem to notice the edge to his voice, and just looked down at the newspaper he was holding. "Nowhere special. A place called Australia, I think, and right around one of the bigger cities." He looked up. "Let me hear your English."

Alvar sighed. Making sure that elves didn't look suspicious in the Forbidden Cities was one of the things Alden insisted on, even though Alvar barely talked to anyone.

"Can you tell me where the grocery store is?" Alvar asked in English. Humans had these weird stores where they sold food. Here, in the Lost Cities, gnomes just grew food right on the property, and no one had to buy anything.

Alden looked at him with an amused look, and asked, "The grocery store?" with a smile, also speaking in English.

Alvar forced a smile right back. "Hey, you never know when you might get hungry. Especially in human cities."

Alden laughed a little. "Good. Now try it with the Australian accent."

Alvar grimaced. Why would humans even make different accents? Wasn't one way of speaking enough? "Can ye tell me where the nearest grocery store is?" He said said in a ridiculously fake Aussie accent. Alden winced.

"Let me try," Alden offered, recovering from Alvar's attempt at speaking like an Australian. Alvar sighed internally.

"Excuse me, but can you show me the way to the east part of the city?" Alden said in a perfect accent. He wasn't a polyglot, but he could sure mimic like one when he tried to.

His dad smiled, and handed Alvar a blue leaping crystal. The top was connected to the bottom with a rotating joint, so you could turn the top, and switch the cut of the crystal to the place you wanted to go.

Alden turned it forty-six clicks to the left and handed it to Alvar, along with an addler and some Australian currency. "In case you do want to buy some groceries," He said with a smile.

"Thanks," Alvar mumbled and brought his dishes to the sink. Then he went to go put on some human clothes, and to brush his teeth. He walked outside, and held the crystal up to the light. He was going to Australia.

* * *

None of the girls Alvar met or talked to or saw were even remotely elven. Brown eyes, green eyes, brown and green eyes (Alvar heard them called hazel eyes, but that made no sense. Hazel wasn't even a colour of the spectrum.), and blue eyes. Out of all the girls with blue eyes, only a third of them were good looking like an elf. And out of the good-looking blue eyed girls, only a one of them was even remotely smart enough to be an elf. When Alvar had finally thought he had found her, he asked her a question in the Enlightened Language.

"Vous parlez français?" She had asked, looking very confused. When Alvar shook his head, she tried again. "¿Estas hablando Español?" Alvar shook his head again, knowing it was useless. "Stai parlando Italiano? Talvez potugêus? Zōngwén?" She looked at him strangely, and left in a hurry.

Alvar sighed. This was his last day to look for the girl, and it was fruitless. Fruitless, just like his life right now. Well, fruitless except for one thing. He was still helping the Neverseen, doing good things.

The truth was, if Alvar had found the girl, he would probably have told the Neverseen first. They were looking for her too.

He might have never told Alden.

As Alvar walked into a small nook where no one could see him while he was getting ready to light-leap, he thought about what he was meant to do in life.

Was he meant to do good? Or was he supposed to make the world a better place? Making the world a better place didn't always mean doing good.

Alvar had learned that much, working with the Neverseen.

He held his home crystal up to the light, and stepped into then beam. The one thing that stuck with him through the leap was the question he had asked the girl in the Englightened Language. He wasn't supposed to know this, but he had learned it anyways, when his father had left some super-secret scrolls out.

Are you the Moonlark?


	3. Chapter 3

**You smart people may notice through this Fanfiction that the dates make absolutely NO sense, and that the order is messed up greatly. Please try and ignore this.**

* * *

"Thank you," Alden said into his Imparter. "I'm sure they'll follow up quickly. Yes. Yes. They will. Okay. goodbye." He turned it off and sighed. Then he announced to the dinner table, "That lead on Black Swan has be canceled. The Alicorn is safe in the sanctuary, and all traces of geoplast have been erased."

"Do you know why it was canceled?" Fitz asked.

"I know why," Alvar cut in. He wasn't supposed to do this, especially at the dinner table, but sometimes he did anyway. He just had to show his dad what was what. "It's because they. Don't. Exist." He was saying this calmly, but the words still came out loud and bold. Just what Alvar wanted them to be.

His father rubbed a hand over his face. "Alvar, we've been over this. We're not going to argue any more about this, because I thought we had reached a decision."

"Have we?" Alvar almost shouted. "Because why would I be yelling if we were in agreement!?"

"You're the only one yelling," Fitz said in a remarkably quiet voice, as if trying to prove his point. Alvar glared at him, for a second, then turned back to full-argument mode.

"I'm not going to tell you again, Alvar. This conversation is over, and it is agreed that the Black Swan _does_ indeed exist."

"IT DOESN'T! Have they told you they exist? Have they showed up and said _Oh hey, I'm here, just thought I should let you know._ Have they? Because leaving said 'clues' everywhere and hiding behind disguise is NOT what I would call cementing their existence." In his anger, Alvar slammed his fist down on the table, making a loud BANG that made everyone jump.

Della interceded quietly. "Alvar, you are excused from this table."

"Fine." Alvar set his fists down on the table firmly, but not so loud this time. He walked away from the table, and up the stairs to his room.

But the thing was, Alvar knew perfectly well that the Black Swan did exist. Being part of the Neverseen, Alvar knew that the Black Swan was constantly trying to fix every little problem discreetly, just as the Neverseen was doing. But in a different way.

If Alden knew the Black Swan existed, then he could somehow get involved with them, then learn about the Neverseen, find about Alvar being on 'the wrong side' and ruin his life, locking him in Exile until he had pointy ears, smelled like old cheese, and forget what his current crush looked like.

Alvar was 99.9% sure that the Black Swan didn't know of the Neverseen's existence, so he was safe for now when. If they (the Black Swan) did know about the Neverseen, the Black Swan might try and exterminate them.

And that would come to no good thing. With no Neverseen, then the problems would stop getting fixed, and the world might fall into irreversible damage.

He tramped up the stairs, trying to be as loud as he could. Problems was: crystal doesn't work like that. His footfalls (or foot stomps) were quieted by the gel-like- layer on top of each stair. This gel was supposed to make walking on hard crystal all day softer on feet, prevent slipping, and, well, walk quieter. It was so pointless, trying to walk loudly. Kind of like his argument, come to think of it.

Alvar was trying so hard to go against the flow, disrupt what everyone thought.

But everything he said was quieted, muted, and forgotten. Because? No one cared.

When he got to his room, he pushed open his door with telekinesis, for no reason. He slumped over to his desk, collapsing in the chair. He fingered the gold bottle, which somehow always made him feel better.

"Vacker, Vacker, Vacker. You have _got_ to do better than that." Alvar spun around in his desk chair, but the back of the chair stopped him from doing a full 180°. The voice was coming from the far left, so Alvar could only see a faint outline of the figure in his peripheral vision.

The intruder stepped forward, getting rid of all doubt.

Fintan.

"Fintan? What are you doing here? You have to leave, you'll get caught!" Alvar gasped, seriously alarmed.

Fintan laughed, a dark and cold laugh that made Alvar want to shiver.

"They won't catch me. And even if they did, I'm a councillor. Everyone…" Fintan dramatically held up air quotes, his face sagging. "'Loves me.'"

"Fintan, you're not a councillor anymore."

Aren't I? They still haven't taken away my special privileges, and they haven't wiped all of the goody-goody secrets from my mind. Secrets that an average citizen should and don't know. And, I still have this:" Fintan held up a smooth oval shaped glass orb flecked blue in many places, followed by streaks of black in various river designs, all wrapped together in a sort of azul-green pond of thoughts and secrets.

A cache.

Alvar warily eyed the cache as he asked, "Shouldn't that be in a safe or a void or something? That cache could destroy all."

"Interesting theory, Vacker, but it does nothing. The secrets have been removed and transported, so now it nothing more than a useless hunk of glass, crystal, and whatever else they put into this trinket. They let me keep it, as a token of appreciation." He threw it onto the ground. "Even if it were real, I am very good at protecting things when I need to." He held up his palm, and the air sizzled around it. Then a bright green flame shot up, and the air smelled sinister, like something forbidden burning. "It's you who needs to be careful."

Alvar gulped. Fintan wouldn't hurt him. Fintan needed his help. Fintan wouldn't hurt him. He wouldn't. "You wouldn't hurt me," Alvar almost squeaked.

Fintan scowled, then snuffed out his flame. "Didn't mean it like that," He said gruffly. "Sometimes I forget how scary my talent can be." He smiled, a wicked smile that brought to Alvar's mind something along the lines of torture, maiming, and death. "But no, what I meant was this:

"When you argue with your family-which you shouldn't- you have to be more careful. Arguing with them, especially with your dad, will make it seem like you're not on their side."

"But I'm not," Alvar said.

"Yes, you are. They don't know that you're doing….. this." He gestured to Alvar's rom, which held various items that didn't at all look like they were from a normal kid's life.

They weren't.

"And," Fintan continued, "If you're not on their side, then you must be on the other side, the 'bad one.'" Again he smiled like he just got to see his enemy beheaded.

"So, conclusion: You are going to act normally, argue no more, and don't give anyone any reason to suspect that you are something else. Someone else, actually."

He stepped forward, and moved his right arm toward Alvar's shoulder to brush off imaginary dirt.

"You are a very important part of this organization, Alvar, and we would hate to lose you all because of your own stupidity." He straightened up, and put on his villain face before leaving again.

Alvar never saw how he left, but he had a feeling that it wasn't a way that normal elves traveled.

* * *

 **Another terribly short chapter. Please spare me.**


	4. Chapter 4

Alvar took Fintan's advice. Not because he liked it, but because he realized Fintan was right. He stopped arguing with his family, pretending to find a clue (that was actually non-existent) that led him to believe that the Black Swan did indeed exist. It was hard to swallow his pride, admitting what he for years tried to disprove.

It was actually ironic. Alvar as trying to lead his family away from the fact that he was something different by giving them a clue he was something different. How?

Alvar stopped arguing with his family to make them think that he was on the same side as them, but he gave him another opinion that the Black Swan existed, which meant being closer to finding out and potentially contacting the Black Swan. That meant that they could find out about the Black Swan, then find out about the Neverseen, then find out about Alvar.

Was this side of the risk bigger? Alvar didn't know, but he hoped it wasn't.

* * *

"New lead on The Human Girl somewhere!" Fitz practically shouted as he dance around the table. Fitz was now 9 years old, and Alvar already hated him.

He tried not to let that part show.

Alvar grimaced as his head pounded with a headache. He had stayed up late last night, in a Neverseen meeting. Normally, that wouldn't give him a headache.

But he also ate a lot of food. Human food. And lastly, someone brought in human alcohol.

Elves wouldn't dream of making something so corrupt and vile as liquor. It makes you act irrationally, makes you sick, and then makes you feel sicker the next day.

But the Neverseen weren't exactly normal elves, with normal integrity. So yes, bringing human things to a meeting (Did I say meeting? I meant party, when Fintan wasn't around [or grumpy]) was not uncommon among the Neverseen. And since most of the things that humans made were not healthy, not normal, or just not useable, the meetings went downward, and Alvar usually ended up with a headache or a sick stomach.

The way Fitz was shouting Alvar finally had to yell "WHAT?" to make him shut up. As everyone turned to stare at him, he finally added "Where?" so as to look the least bit interested.

"She's in _Nerth Emrica_ ," Fitz said, moving his mouth dra-mat-ti-cally. The human words marred by his accent and his little understanding.

"North America, do you mean?" Alvar asked, his human words perfect. As they should be.

"Yep! What you said," Fitz responded, still bouncing on the balls of his feet. Feet that had been in the Forbidden Cities just two hours earlier. And gotten closer to Project Moonlark than Alvar ever had.

"And how exactly do you know she's in _Nerth Emrica?"_ Alvar asked, teasing his little brother.

Fitz gave Alvar the stink eye as Keefe entered the dining room, smiling mischievously. He had stayed the night, as he usually did during the break from Foxfire This night was a big night, as the Foxfire Opening Ceremonies were tonight, and they would all be going tonight. Since Keefe was only 8, and Fitz was 9, they wouldn't be in Foxfire yet. Only Alvar would have the shame of dancing around in a leathery green bodysuit, flapping wings, and pretending to be an adaptable and cunning dragon. Great.

Seconds late, Biana entered, shrieking that perfect screech that only 6 year olds can perfect. Biana certainly had.

Alvar had to do a double take, and make sure that his eyes weren't doing tricks on him. All ready at six, Biana was glamourous.

However, today she just _wasn't._ Her hair was so frizzy and greasy that she looked electrocuted and sweaty at the same time, she had noticeable eye bruises (And I **DON'T** mean just dark circles), her skin was too yellow in some places, too red in others. And the pimples. Her pajamas (which she was still in) were wrinkled and frumpy, while she could barely walk straight.

 _Is she hungover too?_ Alver just had to ask himself that. Of course she wasn't. The worst case scenario was that someone had dumped a _Little Miss Loathsome_ elixir on her while she was walking under a doorway or something.

Alvar stole a glance at Keefe, whom he was pretty sure was behind this. Keefe returned the look along with a look of his own. Sneaky kid.

"MOOOOOOOM!" Biana wailed, trying to hide the state she was in from Keefe and Fitz. Alvar tried to Vanish without getting caught, to avoid the situation.

It almost worked, but at the last second Biana glared at the spot Alvar had been. "SOMEONE dumped an elixir on me, and know I look like a finze-lishting troll!" Alvar secretly laughed at her attempt at elven swear words. While he was in the Forbidden Cities, he picked some up there, and still used them to this day.

Della appeared out of nowhere, shimmering in her scarlet dress with a jeweled waist-line and streaks of white running from the waist down. She blinked in and out and in and out and in and out until Alvar saw dark specks fleck his vision. Even being a Vanisher himself, he still couldn't understand why they did it.

Della arrived at Biana, and snapped her fingers, turning Biana back to normal. She then dusted them off on top of the counter, making a pile of shimmering turquoise powder. Biana looked down at herself, then at the pile of shimmer. She tentatively dipped her finger in it then gasped. Running to the nearest mirror (Which happened to be above the sink,) and gasped again.

"I think I'm better looking than before!" Biana yelled. She came back out, and she was right. Even though she was only six, she definitely was looking glowing and looking better than she had before. She turned to look at everyone, lingering her gaze on Keefe.

Keefe had a look of sheer surprise, and Alvar could tell the cogs in his head were moving. It finally dawned on him what the glittery dust did. He raced over, and totally bombed the place. There was glitter _everywhere._

Keefe looked exactly like a flaradon nuzzling in flames. Flareons had fire as their happy place, and Keefe had 'Make Me Pretty" glitter as his.

"Sorry to break it to you, Keefe, but that glitter only works on girls. But, I can offer you the male kind if you want." Della said, a sly smile on her face.

Keefe's head popped up as he heard the offer. "Where is it? I must have this scintillation of gaudiness **(Those are real words, look them up)** at the opening ceremonies tonight!"

Della continued to smile, as if she knew something important. "Oh, it's upstairs, in my _cabinet._ The vial with the shamrock green gleam." Della's _cabinet_ was notorious for being the largest beauty collection in the Lost Cities, full of everything that anyone ever sold. Alvar doubted that even sharp-eyed goblins could find it in _there._

Keefe paled a bit at the mention of the cabinet, but he still said, " _Bring it on."_ Then, a little louder, "Treasure hunt! You versus me, Fitz! 3, 2, 1, GO!" With that he raced off to who knows where.

Alden walked in with a smile on his face that looked like he had seen the whole thing.

"Alvar, come out," he said, looking around to try and find Alvar, even though it was pretty useless.

Alvar debated whether or not to show, But finally reappeared, with somewhat of a scowl on his face.

"We know the Human Girl is in North America because of this:" Alden stopped his sentence, and held out a slip of paper with loopy words in it, but in a cipher of some sort. "We figured out what it meant, although we can't confirm who sent it." He held out a piece of paper, and held it at arm's length for Alvar to look at. The writing on the back was a series of boxes and elven runes within the boxes. When Alvar translated it by just reading the runes inside the boxes normally, it read something like:

 _sKfa aijding eb h2grcei6 sau %Tn_

But when Alden flipped it over, the note that was written in his short writing read:

 _Stop looking in the places you have been._

"So we know that she's in North America, because that's the only place we haven't looked yet. We also know that she has light skin, blonde hair, and of course, blue eyes. But since the eye colour gene doesn't show up in our DNA, **(I have no idea if that's true or not)** we don't know what shade of blue they are. **(And this is why Fitz was so thrown off by her brown eyes. He assumed that she would have blue eyes.)** Those are the only things we know based on her DNA."

Alden took his hands and placed them on Alvar's shoulders.

"Fitz is the best hope we have for finding her, but you can still help too. Anything you learn from the Council or about the Black Swan will be most helpful. Yes?"

When Alvar nodded, Alden simply said, "Good.", and walked away to work on reports and other boring things emissaries had to deal with.

Alvar sighed, looking up to the ceiling and sighed.

 _How much longer do I have to keep up this charade?_

* * *

 **Any of you notice the mistake?**

 **Yep. Keefe is in this. I know in my other story,** ** _The Great Gulon Incident_ , I said that Fitz only met Keefe on the first day of Level Two. But yet here they are together at least 5 years before they met.**

 **Just try and ignore that please? I guess it's kind of AU...**


	5. Chapter 5

**So. Alvar's getting a girlfriend. We all know that he's super hot, and in the first kotlc book he's got, like, three girlfriends. But how does it all start?**

 **(P.S., this is my first love-type-thing that I've ever written ['cept for that one story where both Adelita _and_ Cristobal drowned...], so...yes. If you are a grade-a love story writer, feel free to leave me some tips. As Aphrodite said: " _I am going to make your love life_ very _interesting."_**

* * *

Alvar might have hated his mother and father, but he was eternally grateful for the good looks they gave him.

Secretive yet alluring cobalt eyes? Check. (Thanks mom!)

Wavy, dark, and perfect hair? Check. (Thanks dad!)

Perfect grin that held the right amount of friendliness vs flirting? Double check.

Now, if only he could get her to notice him…

The old human crumpled paper with a note inside? Alvar was sure that he was the only elf on the planet (or at least in his elvin history class) who knew that trick. No, too classic. She might think that he was scared to talk to her directly.

Hail her? Sure, he knew her name. Inside and out. But that might be a little too...you know, forward.

Get one of her friends to talk to her for Alvar? NOPE. That was the absolute last resort.

So… the only option left was to talk to her directly. She probably already knew who he was, cause he was a Vacker.. Alvar hoped that she knew of his awesome grades, skilled vanishing, amazing personality (minus the slight working-with-the-enemy part), and, of course, stunning good looks.

Alvar sure knew who she was.

Calliope Seneval. Down-to-the-waist honey-brown curly hair, bronze skin, honest dimples, eyes that were always an accumulation of seafoam green and sky blue, and the most amazing light-flashing skills the world had ever seen.

She always had a visible golden light over her, so it always looked like she was glowing.

In all other words, she was perfect to Alvar.

Sure, she had her flaws: She had a very good skill for being late, sometimes her hair looked like leftover dryer lint, and her burning/roasting skills were on the edge of being too mean. But that were flaws made for, if not to be even more attractive?

Anyways, she sat in the row beside Alvar and three seats up. That did _not_ help with his grades.

Alvar was flitting his thoughts between the somewhat exciting history class and finding a way to contact her (and the lunch that he was hungry for), This was not a good way to prioritize, as his thoughts went something like this:

 _Ok, so the first person to invent_ **-SWITCH-** **flirting with girls, as we know know the last time was so disastrous that** _\- you can't add the yarium without the counter-effect of wassubiac." That quote was said in_ **\- the treehouse where you cornered her. That slap hurt so much that it felt like** _-green acid bubbling over the first patented crystal glass, when_ **-you were nine. Nine-year-olds do not have the perfect track record of** _-taming gremlins. When he wrote his first book,_ **\- I didn't even know girls wore makeup back then. How was I supposed to get those stains out of my** _-page 394, The Invention and Many Uses of Crystal._

Needless to say, his notebook was empty of notes that class.

The Foxfire chimes sounded throughout the campus, while prodigies slowly washed out onto the purple-grassed ground for lunch break. Some days, when it was _really_ beautiful out, the school would eat lunch outside. This particular day, the rabones were migrating during the lunch hour, so eating lunch outside was the perfect solution to seeing the small fairy-like creatures. Rabones were small with pink fur and a voice that could _almost_ convince anyone to do anything. They were, by far the cutest creatures ever. They had even inspired fairies.

Alvar brush off his white uniform and cape (he was now in Level 6) and took a deeeeeeeep breath. Girls weren't _that_ scary, were they? Of course they couldn't be.

But… this wasn't any girl. This was Calliope. So? No messing up.

Alvar looked around, deciding to ask her for her notes now, before she started eating her lunch with her clan. He opened up his notebook to a blank page, wrote the date and title on the top. He stuck the silver pencil on the page, (the 'paper' that eleven notebooks have are slightly magnetic so metals like silver can stick to them.) and started walking towards the Calliope the Golden Light, while the butterflies in his stomach tried to throw him off or make him throw up.

Three meters away. _Are_ _you_ _sure_ _you_ _want_ _to_ _do_ _this?_ Yes. (No?)

Two meters away. _No_ _turning_ _back_ _now_. (Well maybe if you started turning now…)

One meter away—melting distance. _Remember_ _to_ _book_ _someone_ _to_ _sing_ _at_ _my_ _planting_. (And tell them I want my tree to be decorated for Christmas. [A human thing that Alvar had thought was cool .])

Luckily, Calliope was alone, writing something in a notebook. _Now_ _or_ _never_.

"Hey." _Oh no, just kill me now,_ Alvar thought as the terrible first word came out of his mouth.

Calliope looked up, and saw Alvar standing there. "Hey?" She asked, not really sure where this conversation was going.

"I know that I don't you so well, but could I use your notes? I didn't take any today, and I hear that you have the best writing in the class." Alvar considered adding a wink at the end, but with the look Calliope was giving him, Alvar internally thanked whichever force had stopped him from adding the wink. Hopefully Calliope just labeled him off as someone who needed help than someone who was flirting.

 _Oh_ _no_. She was raising her eyebrow. Not good. "And why didn't you take any notes?" She asked, looking him over.

"I was… planning something." Nope, she's not buying it.

"Fine, you may use my notes," Calliope said, her stern expression melting. Her face expression was between confusion and surprise, with a little bit of curiosity woven into her glance. "But do not look at any of my other notes, and when you're done, you need to tell me what you were planning."

Deal deal deal deal deal deal DEAL! "I don't know…" Alvar heard himself saying sarcastically. "This plan isn't really at the sharing stage yet." Wait… was that… a flirty comment? If it was, and Calliope took it the wrong way, then Alvar didn't know what he was going to do.

"But you can share it with me, right? I am _very_ good at keeping secrets." WAS THAT FLIRTING?

No no no. Abort now. Stop it! "Okay, maybe just you. Because this project contains mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised." Alvar had no idea what he said, but Calliope's eyes got wide.

"You watch human television shows too?" She asked incredulously.

"Yep. Sometimes when my family's not at home." So _that's_ what that line was from. A human show.

She laughed again, and flipped the notebook in her hands over to Alvar. "Keep it safe, and don't look at any of _my_ plans." She smiled again, and Alvar thanked her. Perfect timing, because at that moment her clan joined her, some of them looking at Alvar with disgust, and some with admiration.

Alvar wandered around under a tree, thinking what on earth he was going to tell her his plan was.

 _Let's_ _see, plans plans plans plans plans. The rabone migration is today—no! Stay focused. Migrations. Animals. Yes, the best plans include animals. But what kind of animals? Cute ones? Disaster causing ones?_ Alvar's mind turned to a human show where a villain set off a bomb filled with gas. The gas made everyone fall asleep so that he and his gang could rob the people. _Yes, something with gas. Sleeping gas? That's boring. Sweet smelling gas? No. …...stinky gas? Yeeeeees. Animals with stinky gas? Um, there's muskogs, tublines, warrats, and a whole bunch of other ones. But the king of them all… yes. They would be perfect._

Alvar knew his plans. Quickly, he wrote all of Calliope's notes down in his own notebook, then started writing his owns plans.

"Here," Alvar said as he gave the notebook back to Calliope. "You really do have the best writing in the class." She smiled when she looked up at him, as if overjoyed to see a guy she had known for literally twenty minutes. Maybe she was just happy to see her notebook. Alvar internally shrugged.

He had once seen a girl who was so protective of her scissors that she always had them tucked inside her skirt waistline (TOTALLY safe, right?). Occasionally she took them out and snipped at anyone she didn't like.

"Thanks. Are you ready to tell me your plans?" Calliope asked.

 _Get ready. And don't mess up._ "Yep," Alvar said as he took out his own notebook, and flipped it to the page labeled 'Evil Plan'. The page had a lot of badly drawn animals that would make anyone laugh, and vials of a cloudy gas drawn on the margins. There was also a map of the Foxfire campus that said random things like "Put one here" and "this is where he will be", and there was even one that read "cause distraction here". Alvar thought it was genius, but it didn't matter what he thought. It mattered what _she_ thought.

Calliope's eyes grew wide as she surveyed the plans, occasionally gasping, and sometimes frowning. Once she even had to stifle a giggle with her hand.

"You think it's a good plan then?" Alvar asked as she handed his notebook back to him.

"Yes," Calliope said thoughtfully, and raised a hand to scratch her head. "Although there is something missing." She took Alvar's notebook back and wrote something on one of the pages. "There. All done." She closed the notebook, and handed it back to Alvar. "Now run along and never ask me anything again." But she was still smiling. Alvar couldn't remember how she looked without a smile.

"Okay, fine." Alvar conceded, faking a pout. "Bye, Calliope. I fear this shall be the last time we ever talk," Alvar said with an old sort of speaking. He saluted her, and jogged away, listening to her laughing. Again.

He got to his safe spot under the tree just as the first migrating rabone flitted overhead, singing the most beautiful sound.

Alvar flipped to his evil plan, and saw the gold pen of Calliope, next to his own silver ink. He smiled incredulously as he saw what she wrote.

 _Remember to include Calliope Seneval in this plan._

The young Vacker stood up, deciding to ask her just one more question.

Alvar bowed as he got up to her. Calliope was still watching the migration, so Alvar _really_ hoped that she would look down. "One more question, m'lady. Will you go out with me?"

* * *

Alvar and Calliope started dating. Since she was so popular, and Alvar was so good-looking, they quickly became the most popular couple in the school. They were the talk of everyone, so the ship Alviope became a part of everyone's vocabulary. In fact, they were _so_ perfect that they had two ship names. Blashy was the mix from Blinker and Flashy, because whenever they walked down the halls together, with Alvar vanishing with every step and Calliope holding a constant gold light over them, they would give people headaches. I bet you if you asked anyone to give you a dating couple in Foxfire, _blashy_ or _Alviope_ would be out of their mouths before you could think.

Alvar and Calliope were such a perfect pair that no one could ever guess that they anything _but_ perfect. And it was true, they _were_ pretty cute together. And Calliope was the perfect girlfriend.

But how could Alvar ever be the perfect boyfriend, working with the Neverseen?


End file.
